Preschools

Our Preschool Programs offer small, language-rich environments to support children both with and without hearing loss in an integrated environment. In each Preschool, there are 10 ‘community’ places (for children without hearing loss) and five places for children with hearing loss, aged three to five years.

For children with hearing loss, schools and Preschools can be noisy and thus difficult learning environments. The Shepherd Centre Preschools aims to overcome these obstacles with small teacher-to-student staff ratios and staff who are trained specifically in language stimulation and development to facilitate the transition to school.

Our Preschool Programs include socialisation skills, language, cognition, fine and gross motor skills, music and craft activities. All activities are based on The Early Years learning framework and have been designed to develop children’s social, intellectual, emotional and physical skills in an enjoyable learning environment.

We are proud to advise that both our Liverpool and Wollongong Preschools were rated as ‘Exceeding’ the National Quality Standards (NQS) for early childhood education in all seven of the assessed Quality Areas.

Our Preschool Programs are currently run from our Liverpool and Wollongong centres, with Preschool staff who have years of experience and training working with children with and without hearing loss. Our Preschools are perfectly equipped to help prepare all children for the school environment.